The Renaissance of Girls' Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years' Progress
CHAPTER XII
1898
Such is in brief the story of the last half-century, 1848 to 1898. Looking back on what is in the main a line of progress, there seems now and then a check, here and there a retrograde movement under the guise of a new discovery. All this is inevitable, since we are but human. But taking the period as a whole, none can doubt that it marks a very real advance; and this end of a century seems a fitting time to pause and rest on our oars, while we survey the breakers through which we have passed; then once more set forth on our onward path, assured that there can be nothing worse before us than what is already behind.
It is not only for girls’ education that the revival has come. A general awakening has passed over the country: men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, the lady of leisure and the hard-working mechanic, all have had something brought within their reach that formerly belonged only to the few. Three years ago these gains were summarised in convenient form by the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, appointed ‘to consider what are the best methods of establishing a well-organised system of secondary education in England, taking into account existing deficiencies, and having regard to such local sources of revenue from endowments or otherwise as are available, or may be made available, for this purpose.’ Even now the country is waiting for legislation on the findings of that Commission. When we remember that we have really been waiting ever since 1867, we do not feel over-sanguine of results; but happily events have since then moved in many directions, and the Commission, before proceeding to recommendations for the future, was able to draw up a long list of reforms that had already come about and changed the whole face of education in England in less than thirty years.
First in order of time stands the Endowed Schools Act, which did so much for boys, and rescued something from the spoils for the benefit of girls. Next came the Elementary Education Act, which brought primary instruction within the reach of every boy and girl in the land, and set a new machinery in motion destined to change the whole face of the country. In 1888 the institution of county councils provided that local authority which was to make a system of decentralisation in education possible, while the Technical Instruction Acts of 1889 and 1891 and the Local Customs and Taxation Act of 1890 at once brought these new powers into play, and originated a fresh set of educational institutions in the Polytechnics and other similar colleges. Lastly, the Welsh Intermediate schools, established by the Act of 1889, were providing an object-lesson in the organisation of secondary education.
Besides this public work, the Commission had to take cognisance of the enormous changes in the education of girls, due to the wide diffusion of High Schools and the admission of women to the Universities. ‘There has probably been more change in the condition of the secondary education of girls than in any other department of education,’[19] say the Commissioners, and they also note that ‘the idea that a girl, like a boy, may be fitted by education to earn a livelihood, or, at any rate, to be a more useful member of society, has become more widely diffused.’ Various other changes came under their cognisance: the gradual rise of Higher Grade schools, evolving themselves through inherent necessity with no impulse and little encouragement from without; the many attempts at what has been called Continuative education by means of evening classes; the help afforded to large numbers by University Extension; the improved status of the teachers; the various colleges established for their training, and the many educational societies which have grown into powerful forces during the last twenty years. After taking due note of all this, they declare that the time has come to weld these various organisms into one consistent whole. They anticipate no easy task. ‘The ground of secondary education is already almost covered with buildings so substantial that the loss to be incurred in clearing it for the erection of a new and symmetrical pile cannot be contemplated. Yet these existing buildings are so ill-arranged, so ill-connected, and so inconvenient, that some scheme of reconstruction seems unavoidable.’[20]
This touches the key of the situation. The reconstruction must at any rate begin with adaptation, then the gaps may be filled with new and convenient edifices. However much such a plan offends our notions of order and logic, we do well to remember that every one of these structures, jerry-built though they may be, has grown up out of some real need; and before we propose to fit all their tenants into neat little model dwellings, it behoves us to be quite sure that such a plan would be as satisfactory in the working as it looks on paper. The mere fact that of the girls receiving secondary education in England seventy per cent., and of the boys thirty-eight per cent., are in private schools, often in towns where there are grammar and high schools with plenty of empty places, should make the advocates of ruthless innovation pause and stay their hand. The public must in the last resort determine what it wants, and though demand sometimes follows supply, the opposite process is a constant one. However much theorists may inveigh, according to their special prejudices, against higher grade or ‘private adventure’ or any other kind of school, the fact of their successful existence, even in the face of rivals, shows that they do supply a want; and the only prudent course is to find them a place in our system.
This has been fully recognised by the Commissioners, who wisely suggest proceeding on lines similar to those on which elementary education was at first organised. The local authority proposed in 1867 can now be easily constituted, since we have the county councils to supply a nucleus to which educational experts can be added, as is already done on some technical instruction committees and in the Welsh county governing bodies. The local authority would proceed ‘to inquire how far the schools within its area provide secondary instruction adequate in quantity and quality to the needs of each part of that area.’ In doing this, regard is to be had to proprietary and private as well as endowed and other public schools, and the report adds the following significant comment: ‘We are far from desiring to see secondary education pass wholly under public control, and into the hands of those who are practically public servants, as elementary education has done, and we believe that where proprietary or private schools are found to be doing good work, it would be foolish as well as unfair to try to drive them out of the field.’[21] Where the supply of secondary education is deficient in any part of the area, the local authority should have power to establish new schools.
The functions of these authorities are therefore to fall under four heads—
1. The securing a due provision of secondary instruction.
2. The remodelling, where necessary, and supervision of the working of endowed (other than non-local) schools and other educational endowments.
3. A watchful survey of the field of secondary education, with the object of bringing proprietary and private schools into the general educational system, and of endeavouring to encourage and facilitate, so far as this can be done by stimulus, by persuasion, and by the offer of privileges and advice, any improvements they may be inclined to introduce.
4. The administration of such sums, either arising from rates levied within the area, or paid over from the National Exchequer, as may be at its disposal for the promotion of education.
In this way these local authorities would receive large powers of supervision, but comparatively little coercive control, since ‘it is not so much by superseding as by aiding and focussing voluntary effort that real progress may be made.’
The general guidance and direction of secondary education should be committed to a central authority, to include the various departments of Government now concerned with it.
Further recommendations are: the consolidation of existing sources of revenue into one fund; and a generous scheme of scholarships for the poor, in preference to a general lowering of school fees.
These main recommendations, as well as other subordinate ones, seem wise and moderate, fair to all classes, and consistent with their professed aim, ‘to draw the outlines of a system which shall combine the maximum of simplicity with the minimum disturbance of existing arrangements.’ A bill drawn up on these lines would probably meet with very general acceptation from all classes, except those persons, probably few, who are ready to subordinate the general good to their own private fads. Unfortunately Parliament has hitherto proved unwilling to give time for such a bill. The ill-fated Education Bill of 1896 dealt with secondary education as a sort of accessory to primary; and as, unlike the latter, it has not yet become a subject for party divisions and acrimonious controversy, it is not at present sufficiently interesting to the general run of politicians to call forth any special exertions on their part. The private bill brought in last session by Colonel Lockwood expressed the wishes of a large section of the teaching profession. It proposed to form one central educational authority under the Committee of the Privy Council on Education, by consolidating powers relating to secondary education possessed by the Charity Commissioners, the Science and Art Department, and the present Education Department, and to establish local secondary education authorities, to consist partly of members of the county council and partly of other persons with special educational experience. It also proposes registers of efficient schools and of persons qualified to teach in them. The ministerial bill introduced by the Duke of Devonshire into the House of Lords at the fag-end of the session merely proposed to bring together in one office the two departments of Science and Art and Education, under the control of one permanent secretary, and to create a Board of Education on the model of the Board of Trade. To this new department the supervision of endowed schools, under schemes framed by the Charity Commissioners, was to be transferred. The thorny questions of constitution of local authorities, raising of rates, etc., were left untouched. It was not proposed to carry the measure, merely to show the country before the vacation the lines on which the Ministry were inclined to proceed. Thorny as are many of the points under discussion, such as central and local authority, amalgamation of existing departments, etc., they are as nothing to the real difficulties that must follow when these matters of administrative machinery are settled. The inspection and grading of schools, the due consideration that must be shown to secondary education proper and to that part commonly known as technical, the proper respect for existing schools that are good and the ruthless elimination of such as are bad—in these lies the true crux of the situation, and under all circumstances some part of this work will probably fall to the local authorities. An enormous amount of responsibility must devolve on those who first take up the arduous task.
One burning question, which ought to be settled for the whole country alike, is the relation between the grammar and high schools on the one hand, and the elementary schools on the other. Are we to have one upper department for both, or two? Some time ago the consensus of opinion seemed to be in favour of one; that was on the assumption that the proportion of children passing beyond the standards would be a small one. Some such idea seems to have been in the mind of the Duke of Devonshire when he spoke of ‘a sound system of secondary schools which will be open alike to the most promising children of the elementary schools and to the middle classes generally.’ But this view rests on the assumption that the primary departments of both sets of schools are very similar in their curriculum and methods. This is very far from being the case. ‘The elementary schools are not, under the present conditions in England, the common basis of secondary education, nor, though an increasing number of pupils proceed from them to secondary schools, are the public elementary schools the sole, nor, indeed, the chief channels through which pupils proceed in this country to day or boarding-schools of the secondary grades.’[22] The changes that would be necessary in the elementary schools would be so numerous and far-reaching, and the expense so enormous before they would be able to attract the great mass of the middle classes, that no one could seriously propose to abolish the primary departments in secondary schools, as long as parents are able and willing to pay the school fees. They are a necessity, and would have to be supplied by private adventure, as is done at Cardiff and other large Welsh towns, if a public system declined to acknowledge them. In the interest of what we might call the ‘secondary party,’ the primary department of the secondary school must be maintained. On the other hand, the teachers in Government schools seem equally unanimous in the view that their own special continuation schools are better suited to the mass of elementary pupils than the grammar or high school. Neither party seems anxious for the fusion, and so long as a liberal scheme of scholarships is maintained, it is possible to do full justice to those elementary scholars who can look forward to a school life sufficiently long to enable them to reach the highest classes of their new school. To allow pupils to enter upon an extensive and liberal curriculum, who are likely to be removed before its real meaning and unity has dawned upon them, is a thing we should never even contemplate, were our notions of curricula and grades of schools a little less hazy than they are at present in England. The board school child, who is sent at the age of thirteen by her proud parents to have a year’s finishing at a high school, is typical of the present confusion. There is really no more urgent problem before us than a scientific differentiation of schools.
Still, whatever course legislation may take on this and other problems, whether funds are raised by fresh rate or merely by adding together existing sources of income, no matter what are the constitution and functions of the local authority, this, at least, we may rely on—the interests of girls will not be forgotten. For that we have to thank that little band of men and women who have laboured during this last half century in the face of prejudice, opposition, and indifference to remove the neglect with which England treated one half of her children. This much, at least, is established: no future educational legislation will omit to provide for women and girls. For this we have a pledge in the appointment of women on this last Commission, in their mention in every scheme for a new educational institution that now passes through Parliament, and their recognition on every new elective body constituted.
We have gained, gained immensely. Still, we cannot blind our eyes to some evils the good has brought with it. The very acknowledgment of the right of girls to as good an education as their brothers has in some cases, happily rare, led, under the pretence of equality, to a subordination of the girls’ interests. Thus, some of the recent attempts to establish joint schools for both sexes, whether on the grounds of economy or the fanciful plea of imitating the family life in a large school of over a hundred children, does indirectly involve a fresh injustice. What the reformers asked for was a share in educational funds for girls and a better education for the teachers, that they might be qualified to undertake the very highest teaching in girls’ schools. The attempts recently made in some schools aided by public money to economise by teaching boys and girls together, abolishing the head-mistress and putting a headmaster over boys and girls alike, while arranging the curriculum and time-table to meet the needs of the boys and letting the girls do the best they can with it, is only a revival, under a new guise, of the old idea, that girls are not entitled to the same consideration as boys. Our modern reformers will not find their occupation gone while they have this old prejudice to combat. It is unjust to the teachers as well as to the taught. Hitherto it has been almost universally acknowledged that teaching was an occupation for which women were by nature specially suited. Is it really proposed to oust them from all but the lowest ranks, and reserve the prizes, the chief inducement to work, for men only? This is what must happen, should there be any wide spread of the mixed schools. With the disappearance of the head-mistress we should lose much of that moral training which has hitherto been regarded in England as no less important than the intellectual and physical. We have hitherto prided ourselves on being in advance of Germany in employing women to teach the highest classes in our girls’ schools. Germany is now beginning to follow suit, and by means of special courses at some of the universities and at the Victoria-Lyceum, Berlin, some of the best mistresses are being trained to take these posts. Surely we in England do not intend, without a struggle, to take the retrograde path!
There seems to be another danger imminent, due, perhaps, to the great speed with which events have moved. At any rate, we have landed ourselves in a dilemma. The educational movement has been parallel with many social changes. The fluctuations of business, the lowering of interest, and other complex causes which make saving difficult to men engaged in business or professions, have added greatly to the number of women who must now earn their living. Thirty years ago it was the custom to wait till the father’s death closed the parental home, when the daughters, untrained to work, unaccustomed to privation, were sent out into the world, to seek their bread as best they could. So general was this practice even among the more enlightened, that the committee who helped to found Queen’s College expressed their belief and hope that ‘the ranks of that profession (_i.e._ of a governess) will still be supplied from those whose minds and tempers have been disciplined in the school of adversity, and who are thus best able to form the minds and tempers of others.’ We are no longer such stern believers in adversity; we now realise that training and earning cannot begin simultaneously, and, further, we have learnt that neither for Adam nor for Eve should work be accounted a curse. All this has led to a great revolution in thought. Work has been made honourable in the eyes of girls. Already at school they are encouraged to choose a profession and to take the steps that lead to it much as their brothers do. If they marry, the years of regular disciplined work prove a helpful training for their new duties; if they remain single, they keep a purpose and an aim in life. This existence of regular duty, of appointed periods of work and holiday, is the easier life; and now that remunerative employment has come to be regarded as a privilege and not a stigma, the ranks of women workers are fast being overfilled. We have heard much talk of late about _new_ careers for women; but the very abundance of the talk serves to betray the poverty of the land. Of new careers there are few. In some cases it only means that the work is transferred from a man to a woman at a lower wage. This is no economic gain to either sex. The field should be open to both alike, but for equal payment. There are also a considerable number of occupations which, if not performed by women, would remain undone, or be done less well. Such are nursing, certain branches of medical work and of factory and sanitary inspection, some kinds of journalism, the teaching of almost all girls and of little boys, to say nothing of the wide field of manual and domestic occupations which fall specially to the woman’s share. Large fields of philanthropic and social work are their own special domain, but these are usually unpaid. There is plenty in truth for women to do, but not enough remunerative work ‘to go round,’ as the saying is. Happily, the working life of many women is short, since marriage or the claims of relations often bring it to a premature close, so that the terrible over-supply has not yet made itself too keenly felt. As yet the sufferers have been chiefly those of the old school who entered the arena unarmed for the fray, and have retired to swell the ranks of the ‘necessitous gentlewoman.’ But signs are not wanting that even the trained and the capable will soon have to suffer. Worst of all is the pressure in the teaching profession. The delight of the enthusiast and the child-lover, it is also, unfortunately, the refuge of the destitute and the one resource of the unimaginative. The girl who has diligently and successfully pursued her own studies without ever learning to take an initiative or to turn out of an appointed groove can contemplate no other way of spending her life than in passing on to others the knowledge she has herself acquired. If hers is a rich home, salary is no particular object. So she ruthlessly spoils the market for her poorer sisters, and takes the bread from another woman whose very existence depends on her earnings. Meantime the work in the home, among acquaintances, the poor, the friendless, the native town, those endless and varied fields of woman’s labour, remains undone. In preaching to our girls the nobility of work, some of us have forgotten to speak of its very highest branches. All honour to those noble women like Miss Clough who never did forget it!
This rush of all women in the same direction, this excessive individualism which has given rise to the cant phrase, ‘living one’s own life,’ is surely a stage through which we have to pass, but which need not remain permanently with us. Much may be done by mistresses at school to revive the dignity of home life, to check the untrue notion in the girls’ mind that no work is worthy of the name unless it is paid for in coin of the realm. Unpaid service is the pride of Englishmen; why should it not be honoured by Englishwomen? Still, for most service money is the fitting reward, and some measure of independence belongs by right to every adult, whether man or woman. Why do not more parents try to make life at home a worthy substitute for a professional career? Why not pay the daughter a fair salary for services rendered, that shall make her as independent in the matter of pocket-money and holidays as her college friend who is teaching or writing? Just as important is a certain liberty of action and a little room, no matter how small, where she can see her friends undisturbed and have things her own way. Those persons who are rich enough to leave their daughter a fair income at their death can surely afford to allow her these little indulgences in their lifetime. If she is some day to be thrown on the world penniless or with a mere pittance, then the sooner she sets to work the better. Whenever it is possible, parents should make up their minds, before a girl leaves school, what sum of money can be laid aside for her, either for immediate professional training or with a view to an income in the future. It is reasonable and right that a girl, like a boy, should choose her profession, provided the occupations of home are included among those that are paid and respected. If the growing independence of girls helps to bring about this change, the family too will benefit by this quiet revolution that has taken place in our midst. The _Sturm und Drang_ period will pass away, and the time for the quiet harvest must succeed it. Enough, then, has been said by the devil’s advocate; it only remains to enter into the fruits of our Nineteenth Century Renaissance.
INDEX
Aberystwyth College, 6, 9, 10.
Addison’s Essays, 10.
Aldeburgh Girls’ School, 160.
Allen, James, Girls’ School, 96, 191.
Aske’s School, Hatcham, 101.
Astell, Mary, 8, 9, 10.
Bangor College, 141, 145.
Beale, Miss, at Queen’s College, 30; at Cheltenham, 30; gives evidence before Schools’ Inquiry Commission, 33, 42, 85; an educational pioneer, 38; her abstract of the Royal Commission’s Report, 48; her views on private teaching, 53; founds St. Hilda’s, Oxford, 122.
Bedford College, 27, 28, 29, 121, 128, 129, 130, 131.
—— endowment, 81, 90, 92, 93, 95.
—— High School, 93, 94, 95, 135.
—— Modern School, 93, 94, 95.
Birmingham endowments, 80, 90, 91.
Blue-stocking Club, 11.
Board of Education Bill, 240.
Boarding-houses, 152, 153, 166.
Boarding-schools, 149, 150, 161, 162.
Bodichon, Madame, 39, 40, 84, 107.
Bostock, Miss, 28, 84.
Bryce, Mr., 47, 84.
Buss, Miss, at Queen’s College, 30; gives evidence before Schools’ Inquiry Commission, 33, 42, 85; an educational pioneer, 38; President of Schoolmistresses’ Association, 48; transforms the North London Collegiate into a public school, 85; procures endowment for it, 86, 87.
Buss, Frances Mary, Schools, 87, 88.
Cambridge Examinations, Junior and Senior, 33, 34, 40, 41, 51, 109, 167.
—— —— Higher Local, 34, 51.
—— position of women at, 113, 114, 126.
—— Triposes opened to women, 110, 111, 112.
Camden School, 87, 191.
Cardiff College, 141, 145.
Careers open to women, 162, 163, 246.
Chapone, Mrs., 11.
Charitable Trusts Acts, 83.
Charity Commission, 83, 100, 102, 174.
Cheltenham Ladies’ College, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 53, 94, 135, 153.
Christ’s Hospital Girls’ School, 80, 97.
Church Schools’ Company, 58, 59.
City of London Girls’ School, 102.
Clergy Daughters’ Schools, 17, 18.
Clough, Miss, 38, 49, 81, 109, 116, 247.
Cobbe, Miss, her reminiscences of school, 15, 16.
Co-education at University of Wales, 176; at Polytechnics, 177; in Organised Science Schools, 187; in Higher Grade Schools, 206; in Welsh Intermediate Schools, 224, 227.
College Hall, London, 134.
County Councils, educational work of, 172, 177, 237.
Curriculum of Girls’ Schools, 67, 71, 72, 75, 162.
Davies, Miss Emily, an educational pioneer, 38; Secretary to Local Examination Committee, 40; gives evidence before Schools’ Inquiry Commission, 42; works to obtain endowments for girls, 84; foundress of Girton, 104; Mistress of Girton, 108.
Day Schools, 149, 150.
—— —— at Polytechnics, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188.
Defoe on Women’s Education, 9, 10.
Degrees for Women, attempts to obtain, at Cambridge, 110, 113; at Oxford, 120.
Domestic Economy Schools, 178, 179, 180, 181.
—— —— evening classes, 181, 182.
Dual Schools. _See_ Wales.
Edgeworth, Maria, 13, 14, 15.
Education Bill of 1896, 239; Colonel Lockwood’s, 240.
—— Company, 157.
—— Department, 196.
Elementary Education Act, 100, 225.
Elizabeth. _See_ Queen Elizabeth.
Elizabethan England, 7, 8.
Endowed Schools before the Conquest, 78.
Endowed Schools for girls, 85, 91, 97, 100; three grades of, 99.
—— —— assisted by grants of Technical Education money, 191.
Endowments, of Convents, 5; Association to promote their application to the Education of Women, 84; their distribution, 98; share of girls in, 79, 80, 84, 91, 97, 102.
Euphues, 7.
Evening Continuation Schools, 211.
—— —— —— Code, 212, 213, 214.
Ex-standard classes, 199.
Fitch, Mr., 44, 46, 84.
Games for girls, 152, 153, 155, 156, 164.
Girls’ Public Day School Company, 56, 57, 66.
Girton College, 106, 107, 108, 110, 114, 115.
Governesses’ Benevolent Institution, 21.
Grammar Schools, 6, 8, 80.
Grey, Mrs. William, 54, 56.
High Schools, 59; difference between English and American, 60; general features of, 61; organisation, 62; buildings, 63; curriculum, 72; methods of teaching in, 73; results on the pupils, 73, 76, 77; training of the teachers, 73; after careers of the girls, 77; hours of work in, 152; their relation to elementary schools, 241.
Higher Grade Schools, 199, 200, 201, 203; at Leeds, 204, 205; at Cardiff, 206; needs of girls at, 207, 208.
Hilda, abbess of Whitby, 3.
Hitchin Ladies’ College, 105, 106.
Holloway College, 102, 121, 131, 132, 133.
Intermediate Schools. _See_ Welsh Intermediate Schools.
King Edward’s Schools. _See_ Birmingham endowments.
King’s College, Ladies’ Department, 135.
Lady Margaret Hall, 117, 120, 121, 123.
Lecture-system, 25, 72, 73.
Local Customs and Taxation Act, 169, 217, 235.
Lockwood, Colonel. _See_ Education Bill.
Makins, Mrs., 9.
Manchester High School, 89.
Manual training, 74, 158, 171.
Mary Datchelor School, 101.
Maurice, F. D., 22, 23.
Modern Schools for girls, 189.
Montagu, Mrs., 11.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 11.
More, Hannah, 11, 12, 13, 163.
National Union for the improvement of Women’s Education, 54, 55, 56.
Newnham College, 108, 109, 110, 114, 115, 116.
Norman Conquest, effect on Education, 3.
North London Collegiate School, 33, 53, 64, 68, 87, 135.
North of England Council, 48, 49, 50, 108.
Nunneries, education given in, 3, 5.
Organised Science Schools, 187, 201, 202, 204.
Owens College, Manchester, 136.
Oxford Association for the Education of Women, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 123.
Oxford Halls for Women, 116, 117.
Oxford Home Students, 123, 124.
—— Local Examinations, 40, 50.
—— Position of Women at, 118, 119, 120, 124, 126.
—— University Examinations, 132.
—— and Cambridge Joint Board, 51, 68, 69; Higher Certificate of, 69, 70, 116; Lower Certificate, 70, 71.
People’s Palace, 174.
Pfeiffer Charity, 102.
Physical training, 75, 76, 158, 159, 160.
Polytechnics, 176, 183, 184, 194.
—— Battersea, 178, 182; Borough, 178; Regent Street, 173, 175, 177, 178.
Private Schools, 163, 164, 166, 167, 168, 242.
Queen Anne, 10.
—— Elizabeth, 6.
—— Victoria, 18, 19, 21.
Queen’s College, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 245.
Reading School, 79.
Reformation, its effect on Women, 5, 6.
Reid, Mrs., 27, 28.
Renaissance, 6.
Revised Code, 197.
Revival of Girls’ Education, 1, 19, 248.
Roedean School, 197.
Scholarships at Cambridge, 116; at Oxford, 123.
—— of Technical Education Boards, 178, 191, 192, 193.
—— in Welsh Schools, 223.
School Boards, 197, 198.
Schoolmistresses’ Associations, 48, 49.
Schools’ Inquiry Commission, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 82.
Secondary Education Commission, 101, 198, 209, 226, 234, 235, 237, 239.
Sidgwick, Henry, 108, 109.
—— Mrs., 109, 116.
Sinclair, Catherine, 16, 17.
Skinners’ School at Stamford Hill, 96, 101.
Social Science Congress, at Glasgow, 40, 84; at Leeds, 54.
Somerville College, 117, 120, 121, 123.
South Kensington Department of Science and Art, 200, 201, 202, 203, 208, 209, 210, 213, 214.
St. Hilda’s, Cheltenham, 36.
—— Oxford, 117, 122, 123.
St. Hugh’s Hall, 117, 122, 123.
St. Leonard’s School, St. Andrews, 94, 153, 154, 155, 156.
St. Paul’s School, 79.
State the, its relation to Education, 195, 196.
Stuart Court, its influence, 8.
Technical Education Acts, 170, 171, 235.
—— —— Boards, 190, 237; Cheshire, 190; London, 129, 175, 176, 178, 192, 193; Surrey, 188.
Universities, rise of, 4; admission of Women to, 103, 148; at London, 127; Victoria, 136; Durham, 139; Wales, 139; Scotland 147; Ireland, 147; foreign countries, 147.
University College, Liverpool, 136, 137.
University College, London, 26, 134.
—— Colleges, provincial, 135.
—— —— of Wales, 140, 141, 143, 144.
—— Extension, beginnings of, 49, 50.
—— for Women, 106, 133.
—— of London, examinations for Women, 35; degrees, 35, 126, 127, 128, 129, 132; reorganisation, 135.
Victoria. _See_ Queen Victoria.
—— University, 136.
Wales, University of, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143.
Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 170, 217, 235.
—— —— Schools, two kinds of, 223; dual, 225, 226, 227; curriculum of, 220, 221; compared with High Schools, 221, 222; fees, 228; present condition of, 232, 233; County Governing Bodies 218, 238; Joint Education Committees, 219; Central Board, 220, 228, 229; its examinations, 230 231.
Welsh, Miss, 116.
Westfield College, 102, 130, 131.
Whisky-money, 170, 217.
Winchester College, 78, 79.
Women teachers, 244.
Wotton, 6.
Wycombe Abbey School, 157, 158.
Yorkshire Board of Education, Ladies’ Honorary Council of, 48, 88.
—— College, Leeds, 136, 138.
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press
Footnote 1:
G. Hill, _Women in English Life_.
Footnote 2:
L. Eckenstein, _Women under Monasticism_.
Footnote 3:
Sir Th. Overbury.
Footnote 4:
Mary Astell. _An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex._
Footnote 5:
Defoe. _Essay on Projects._
Footnote 6:
Mrs. Makins. _An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen_, 1673.
Footnote 7:
Mary Astell. _A Serious Proposal._
Footnote 8:
Hannah More. _Strictures on Female Education._
Footnote 9:
_The Complete Governess._ A Course of Mental Instruction for Ladies.
Footnote 10:
_Autobiography of Frances Power Cobbe._
Footnote 11:
_Examiner._
Footnote 12:
Mr. Hammond’s Report.
Footnote 13:
A. F. Leach.
Footnote 14:
Emily Davies, _Higher Education of Women_.
Footnote 15:
_Special Reports on Educational Subjects, 1896–97._
Footnote 16:
See _Handbook to Courses Open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities_, by Isabel Maddison, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Footnote 17:
In character, not of course in size
Footnote 18:
_Report of Royal Commission on Secondary Education_, vol. i. p. 98.
Footnote 19:
_Report_, vol. i. p. 75.
Footnote 20:
_Report_, vol. i. p. 1.
Footnote 21:
_Report_, vol. i. p. 274.
Footnote 22:
Preface to _Return of the Pupils in Public and Private Schools in England, and of the Teaching Staff in such Schools on June 1, 1897_.
New One=Volume Novels.
_Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each._
By EDEN PHILLPOTTS.
Children of the Mist.
By CONSTANCE SMITH.
Prisoners of Hope.
By MARGUERITE BRYANT.
A Woman’s Privilege.
By ROMA WHITE.
The Island of Seven Shadows.
By ESTHER MILLER.
The St. Cadix Case.
By FRANCIS GRIBBLE.
Sunlight and Limelight.
By BASIL THOMSON.
The Indiscretions of Lady Asenath.
By A. E. W. MASON.
Lawrence Clavering.
By FRED T. JANE.
The Lordship, the Passen, and We.
By LADY HELEN CRAVEN.
Katharine Cromer.
By C. M. CAMPBELL.
Deilie Jock.
The Isthmian Library.
_Illustrated, post 8vo, cloth_, 5s. _a Volume_.
VOL. I.
By B. FLETCHER ROBINSON.
Rugby Football.
With Chapters by FRANK MITCHELL, R. H. CATTELL, C. J. N. FLEMING, GREGOR MACGREGOR, C. B. NICHOLL, and H. B. TRISTRAM.
VOL. II.
By A. C. PEMBERTON, Mrs. HARCOURT WILLIAMSON, C. P. SISLEY, and GILBERT FLOYD.
The Complete Cyclist.
VOL. III.
By GARDEN SMITH.
The World of Golf.
With Chapters by VAN TASSEL SUTPHEN, Miss PASCOE, &c.
VOL. IV.
By R. C. LEHMANN.
Rowing.
With Chapters by GUY NICKALLS and C. M. PITMAN.
VOL. V.
By R. ALLANSON WINN.
Boxing.
VOL. VI.
Ice Sports.
VOL. VII.
By MONTAGU S. MONIER WILLIAMS.
Figure Skating.
VOL. VIII.
By W. B. THOMAS.
Athletics.
With Chapters by R. R. CONWAY, A. C. M. CROOME, G. S. ROBERTSON, C. N. JACKSON, and W. M. FLETCHER.
_Other Volumes are in preparation and will be duly announced._
Works on History, Travel, &c.
By HAROLD SPENDER and H. LLEWELLYN SMITH.
Through the High Pyrenees.
With Maps and numerous Illustrations from Sketches and Photographs. Demy 8vo, cloth, 16s.
By Judge O’CONNOR MORRIS.
Ireland—‘98 to ‘98.
A History of Irish Politics and Irish Movements during the Last Hundred Years. Demy 8vo, cloth, price 10s. 6d.
“This work can be unreservedly recommended. Judge O’Connor Morris has a thorough mastery of his subject; and his deductions are as a rule candid, impartial, and convincing.”—_Literature._
“No one who has given attention to Irish affairs, will read his book without interest, nor, we think, without profit.”—_Glasgow Herald._
By ELLA C. SYKES.
Through Persia on a Side Saddle.
With a Map and numerous Illustrations from Photographs. Demy 8vo, cloth, 16s.
“A very bright, picturesque, and entertaining narrative of travel in comparatively untrodden ways.”—_Daily News._
“Written with shrewdness and humour and a touch of pleasant fancy.”—_Standard._
“One of the most delightful books of modern travel in Iran.”—_Scotsman._
By F. H. S. MEREWETHER.
Through the Famine Districts of India.
Being an Account by Reuter’s Special Correspondent of his Experiences in Travelling through the Famine Districts of India. Profusely Illustrated. Demy 8vo, cloth, 16s.
By Professor W. S. LAWTON.
The Successors of Homer.
Being an Account of the Greek Poets who followed from Homer down to the time of Aeschylus. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, price 5s.
Eighteenth Century Letters.
Edited by R. BRIMLEY JOHNSON, with Introductions by eminent scholars. Illustrated with Photogravure Portraits of the writers. Crown 8vo, half-parchment, gilt top, price 6s. each volume.
SWIFT, ADDISON, STEELE. With an Introduction by STANLEY LANE POOLE.
JOHNSON AND CHESTERFIELD. With an Introduction by GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L.
_Other Volumes are in preparation, and will be duly announced._
RECENT POPULAR 6s. NOVELS.
By J. C. SNAITH, Author of “Mistress Dorothy Marvin.”
Fierceheart the Soldier.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Mr. Snaith has given us a romance that for terse, pregnant phrasing, exceptional character, and recurring and vivid depiction of dramatic situation, is the best thing of its kind we remember to have seen for a long time.”—_Observer._
By MAX PEMBERTON.
Christine of the Hills.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Assuredly he has never written anything more fresh, more simple, more alluring or more artistically perfect.”—_Daily Mail._
By EDEN PHILLPOTTS.
Lying Prophets.
_Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“An excellent novel.... A piece of serious and admirable work.... Not unworthy of a place with George Eliot’s ‘Adam Bede’ and ‘Mill on the Floss.’”—_Pall Mall Gazette._
By ISABEL CLARKE.
The Episode of Alethea.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“The author deals with admirable taste and tact with the situation.... The story is one of high merit from beginning to end.”—_Scotsman._
By ESTHER MILLER.
The Sport of the Gods.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“It is very well told.... The novel is exciting, and preserves its interest to the end.... Excellent story.”—_Athenæum._
By the late Mrs. J. K. SPENDER, Author of “Thirteen Doctors,” etc.
The Wooing of Doris.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Has much to commend it to novel-readers. A clever plot; well-drawn characters—such are the leading features of a novel by which the reputation of its much-regretted writer is fully sustained to the last.”—_World._
By J. C. SNAITH.
Mistress Dorothy Marvin.
A Romance of the Glorious Revolution.
Illustrated by S. COWELL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“The author has succeeded in making his story intensely interesting.... One of the very best adventure stories we have had for a long time past.”—_Speaker._
“‘Mistress Dorothy Marvin,’ most delightful and winsome of women, and one of the freshest and most unhackneyed heroines whose acquaintance we have had the pleasure of making for a very considerable period.... Mr. Snaith has a great gift of observation, and his book is a remarkable picture of the age it is intended to depict.”—_World._
By STANLEY WEYMAN.
My Lady Rotha.
A Romance of the Thirty Tears’ War.
Illustrated by JOHN WILLIAMSON. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“No one who begins it will lay it down before the end, it is so extremely well carried on from adventure to adventure.”—_Saturday Review._
By FRANK BARRETT, Author of “The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane.”
A Set of Rogues.
A Romance of the Seventeenth Century.
Illustrated by S. COWELL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“He has related the adventures of a set of rogues ... with so pleasant a tongue and in such attractive fashion that it is impossible for mere flesh and blood to resist them. His set of rogues have won our entire sympathy, and his narrative our hearty approval.”—_Pall Mall Gazette._
“Another capital story.... Strongly recommended. Stirring tale this, without a dull chapter in it, and just enough human sentiment in it to soften down the roguery.... Let the honest reader procure the book.”—_Punch._
By E. F. BENSON, Author of “Dodo.”
Limitations.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Mr. Benson has written an interesting and truly human book. His range is much wider than it was; his character-drawing has gained in depth, delicacy, and precision; while the sparkling dialogue which we enjoyed in ‘Dodo’ has lost none of its old brilliancy.”—_Daily Telegraph._
By FRANCIS GRIBBLE.
The Lower Life.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“A very remarkable novel, well thought out, well sustained, and inspired from first to last.”—_National Observer._
By G. B. BURGIN.
Tomalyn’s Quest.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Mr. Burgin has just scored a second shining success with ‘Tomalyn’s Quest,’ a tale of the keenest interest.”—_Daily Telegraph._
By W. L. ALDEN.
The Mystery of Elias G. Roebuck.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Mr. Alden has the true gift of humour.... It is impossible to read the collection of short stories without genuine enjoyment.”—_Times._
By C. R. COLERIDGE and HELEN SHIPTON.
Ravenstone.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“The love interest of ‘Ravenstone’ is twofold, and is admirably sustained throughout this bright, vigorous, and refreshing story.”—_Daily Telegraph._
By X. L., Author of “Aut Diabolus aut Nihil.”
The Limb.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
MR. GLADSTONE writes: “Pray accept my thanks.... I was so imprudent as to open it at once, and since that act have found great difficulty in laying it down.”
“‘The Limb’ is unquestionably one of the most fascinating books of the season.”—_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
By ROMA WHITE.
A Stolen Mask.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“A capital story, and Mrs. Roma White tells it with a delicate humour and a spontaneous brilliancy as rare as they are delightful. ‘A Stolen Mask’ is a novel that stands high above the average, and can be strongly recommended. It is a long time since we have come across anything so thoroughly fresh and bright.”—_Pall Mall Gazette._
By FRANCIS GRIBBLE.
The Things that Matter.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Is an extremely psychological study.”—_Times._
“It is a very amusing novel, full of bright satire directed against the new woman and similar objects.”—_Speaker._
By G. B. BURGIN.
The Judge of the Four Corners.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“A delightfully humorous sketch, full of the purest fun, and irresistibly laughable.”—_Saturday Review._
By EDEN PHILLPOTTS.
My Laughing Philosopher.
Illustrated by GEORGE HUTCHINSON. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“We commend to the notice of any one wanting a good laugh ‘My Laughing Philosopher,’ whose varied character-sketches amply prove Mr. Eden Phillpotts to be endowed with those two excellent gifts of humour and imagination.”—_Spectator._
“The book will be welcome to every one who likes a book from which a man can get a good laugh.”—_Scotsman._
By LESLIE KEITH, Author of “The Chilcotes,” “‘Lisbeth,” etc.
For Love of Prue.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“Plot and Incident in this present story are alike remarkable ... altogether we heartily commend ‘For Love of Prue’ as a sensible, humorous, and thoroughly wholesome book.”—_Speaker._
By DOROTHEA GERARD.
Lot 13.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._
“A bright, buoyant, and bustling story, with plenty of local colour derived from the scenery and the society, black and white, of a West Indian plantation.”—_Times._
SCARLET NOVELS.
A SERIES OF POPULAR NOVELS BY WELL-KNOWN AUTHORS.
_Crown 8vo, uniform scarlet cloth, 3s. 6d. each Volume._
ANTHONY HOPE’S SOCIETY NOVELS.
Comedies of Courtship.
“He is undeniably gay in the best sense of the word, now and then almost rollicking. An admirable example of what we mean by gaiety in fictional literature.”—_Daily Telegraph._
Half a Hero.
“The book is delightful to read, and an excellent piece of work.”—_Standard._
Mr. Witt’s Widow.
“A brilliant little tale.... Exhibits unborrowed ingenuity, plausibility, and fertility in surprises.”—_Times._
By MAX PEMBERTON.
A Gentleman’s Gentleman.
“This is very much the best book that Mr. Max Pemberton has so far given us.”—_Daily Chronicle._
By RICHARD PRYCE.
The Burden of a Woman.
“The conception and execution of this interesting story are excellent. A book to read and remember with pleasure.”—_Lady’s Pictorial._
By C. R. COLERIDGE.
Amethyst.
“Extremely amusing, interesting, and brightly written.”—_Guardian._
By F. FRANKFORT MOORE.
Two in the Bush and Others Elsewhere.
“Carry the reader on from page to page till criticism is forgotten in enjoyment.”—_Daily Graphic._
By ROMA WHITE.
Punchinello’s Romance.
“We give Roma White the warmest of welcomes into the world of fiction.... Admirably and irresistibly comic, without anything in the nature of force or even of apparent exaggeration, ready at the least moment to run into equally true pathos.”—_Graphic._
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.